Long story (not so) short: In the many years I lived in the US (and after) I amassed a nice little collection of vintage guitars. At some point I started wanting also at least one vintage amp to match the guitars, but never seemed to be the right time. It was more than enough for me with a couple of Jazz Choruses and a Blues Junior. And in the last years I've been using an HX stomp for my amp recording needs. In any case, a very good friend of mine was moving from NYC to Buenos Aires and was bringing all his stuff with him in a ship. He basically could bring anything he owned. So it was now or never.
I've been wanting a Blackface Vibrochamp forever but I couldn't bring myself to pay the price they are asking these days. . So I got a surprisingly low ebay offer for a 66 Bandmaster - original except for tubes and knobs) can and I pulled the trigger. But the wait for my friend to move was long and I of course started considering cheaper SF champs or vibrochamps. I got a beaten up on ebay for about 550. a Bit more of I would wanted to pay, but the lowest price I found. It's a 1970 and sounds incredible.
To top my GAS-fueled amp frenzy, I tracked down a 67/68 2x12 bandmaster cab in Queens via facebook market. Seller had it on sale for 2 years and still had it. My friend went over and picked it up for 250 dollars, with original speakers and all and the grill a tad torn (It's the later, bigger vertical version with drip edge).
5 months went by and two days ago the amps finally made it my place all the way from NYC by sea. No issues, no tubes broken everything exactly as described. The cab came barely wrapped with a couple of blankets and made it just fine.
The Champ is really incredible, as I plugged I couldn't stop playing for a hours. Emulators and profilers are really good, but I felt like a tube, small amp is so receptive to picking, dynamics, etc is an instrument of its own. Or an extension of the guitar.
The Bandmaster sounds huge with beautiful cleans. The tremolo channel feels slightly darker/warmer and I love how it sounds. At louder volumes the tremolo sounds great it's like the speakers start to breathe. Also got a footswitch for it. the humongous cab is certainly much more that I should accommodate to my digs, but it was too good an opportunity to pass. I had just the right place to it and while I won't be cranking it, we'll certainly be recording with it here in the studio. I got the whole Bandmaster head/cab combo for less than a grand and hot damn I think it's a good price, especially when it was brought to me from overseas. Now I just want to play and rediscover my guitars through these two. So elated!
